Spring film
festival schedule announced

The schedule for the spring
film festival at Black Hills State University has been
announced. The films will be shown at 7 p.m. in Jonas 305
on five Thursdays - Feb. 17, Feb. 24, March 16, March 23
and March 30.

The film festival is co-sponsored by the
University Programming Team and the English Club.
Admission is free. The following films will be shown.

The first film will be Run Lola Run (1998) on
Feb. 17. Director-screenwriter Tom Tykwer's surreal caper
tells the tale of Lola (Franka Potente), a
lost-but-lovely Berlin punk who picks up the phone to
receive shattering news: She has exactly 20 minutes to
get 100,000 Deutsche marks ($67,000), or her boyfriend
(Moritz Bleibtreu) will be killed. Faced with losing the
bleached-blond love of her life, she sprints out the door
on an apparently hopeless mission. The films runs 81
minutes.

The Third Man (1949) will be shown Feb. 24.
Graham Greene wrote the script for Carol Reed's classic
film about an American pulp fiction writer's search for
the mysterious and enigmatic war profiteer Harry Lime (a
wonderful Orson Welles) in post-war Vienna. Recently
remastered, the film welds German expressionism, British
classicism, and American B-movie energy and motion. Anton
Karas's haunting zither score is nearly as well known as
Welles's extraordinary entrance. Starring Joseph Cotton,
Trevor Howard and Bernard Lee. Award-winning
cinematography is by Robert Krasker. Selected as the
Favorite British Film of the 20th century in a 1999
British Film Institute survey. This film is in black and
white and runs104 minutes.

Orlando (1992) will
be shown March 16. Directed by independent filmmaker
Sally Potter, and based on the l928 novel by Virginia
Woolf, Orlando challenges traditional ideas about gender
and sexuality. Initially set in Elizabethan England, the
film centers on the adventures of a young aristocrat who
is commanded by Queen Elizabeth never to grow old. This
mysterious longevity allows Orlando to dash through four
centuries of sexual politics. Inspired by Woolfs friend,
Vita Sackville-West, Orlando, according to Nigel
Nicholson, is "the longest and most charming love
letter in literature." Film runs 93 minutes.

Grand
Illusion (1937) will be shown March 23. This film is
a beautiful, pristine version of Jean Renoir's great
masterpiece, a classic comment on war's fading glory. The
print used for this release was remastered from an
original camera negative discovered in the late l990s,
allowing this sublime classic to be seen, for the first
time in decades, exactly as Renoir intended. Set in World
War I the film tells of two French officers captured by
German forces. Interred in a prison camp, the two
officers encounter Von Rauffenstein, an aristocratic
career officer played by Erich von Stroheim. Starring
Jean Gabin and Pierre Fresnay. French with English
subtitles. This film is black and white and runs 95
minutes.

Buena Vista Social Club (1999) will be shown
March 30. Wim Wenders's "Wings of Desire; Paris,
Texas" intoxicating documentary captures the
rehearsals, recording sessions, and performances of
several giants of Cuban son music, a popular form that
dates back to the 1930s. American musician Ry Cooder
rounded up these musical greats, some nearly forgotten,
and organized a joyous, celebratory collaboration that
brought their style of song back into the spotlight.
Ibrahim Ferrer, Company Segundo, and Ruben Gonzalez are
just a few of the bright lights who enjoy a most
deserving revival here. This film is in English and
Spanish and runs 141 minutes.